The Catamounts have won seven national championships, 6 in skiing and 1 in men's soccer.[8] The program's mascot is Rally and colors are green and gold.[9]
Vermont is one of only four NCAA Division I schools that do not sponsor volleyball or baseball. The other three are Boston University, Detroit Mercy, and Drexel.
The men's basketball team won the 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024 America East Conference Championships, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in each of those seasons.[8] In the 2005 NCAA tournament, the team, seeded #13 in the Austin Regional, upset #4 Syracuse 60–57 in overtime. Sports Illustrated named the upset one of the top 10 NCAA Tournament upsets of the 2000s.[10]
The men's ice hockey team appeared in the NCAA Tournament Frozen Four in 1996 and 2009. They also qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 1988, 1997, 2010, and 2014.[8]
The UVM ski team has won six national championships (1980, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2012) and 33 EISA titles, most recently in 2014. The team has had 54 individual national champions, over 273 All-Americans, and 66 US Ski Team members.[19]
The men's soccer team has appeared in the NCAA Tournament twelve times, including trips to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in 1989 and 2022, and the finals in 2024, winning the National Championship game against the Marshall Thundering Herd 2–1 in extra time.
Vermont's women's basketball team has performed well in the America East tournament. In 2013, it made a conference-record 18th appearance in the semifinals. It has the most wins in tournament play, with 35 (2013 field). It has advanced at least one round in 19 of the 24 tournaments.[20]
The Catamounts were the first women's basketball program to go undefeated during the regular season in back-to-back seasons (1991–1992 and 1992–1993), a feat matched only by Connecticut (2008–2009 and 2009–2010).
In the 2012–2013 season, the program had a total attendance mark of 10,579.[21]
Former varsity teams
Baseball
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation marker at former site of University of Vermont Athletic Park, home to UVM baseball, football, and track and field, 1887 to 1904. (June 2014).
After the 2009 season, the Vermont baseball program, which played at Centennial Field, was cut along with softball as a part of the university's budget cuts.[22] Prior to the cuts of 2009, Vermont baseball was the winningest program at UVM with a .532 winning percentage (1485–1306).[citation needed]
Ten Vermont baseball players reached the major leagues, including Larry Gardner, who started at third base for four World Series champions in his 17-year (1908–24) big league career,[23] lefthanded pitcher Ray Collins, who won 87 games in seven MLB seasons and started the first World Series game ever played at Fenway Park,[24] and Kirk McCaskill, who won 110 games during his Major League career.[25]
Vermont had a varsity football team that competed from 1886 until 1974. They were members of the Yankee Conference from 1947 until the program was disbanded.[26][27]
Nickname and mascot history
On February 6, 1928, The Vermont Cynic asked the University of Vermont undergraduates if they would like to have a mascot. The choices offered up by ballot were a tomcat, camel, cow, or catamount. By a vote of 138–126 the catamount became the first University of Vermont Mascot, Charlie Catamount.[28][29]
For a brief time between 1968 and 1969 UVM had a live mascot named "Rink". Rink was a puma cub born in captivity at a Peoria, Illinois zoo and owned by avid hockey fans Nancy and Robert "Tiny" Leggett, of South Burlington, VT. As Rink grew from 10 lbs to over 100 lbs the couple became unable to care for him and were reported plans to donate him to Canada's Granby Zoo.[30]
Kitty Catamount joined Charlie as a "Catamount Couple" and the two mascots were married at a UVM hockey game in the 1970s.[28]
In a rebranding of mascots, Rally Cat was introduced in 2003.[32]
Facilities
As of 2025, Vermont is in the process of replacing Patrick Gym with a new arena called the Tarrant Center, although construction is on pause with no timeline to resume.[33]
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